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Updated: Jun 8, 2025
Author Spotlight: A Non-Invasive Tool to Assess and Differentiate Fat Patterns in Liver Using 3D Dixon MRI
Published on: October 20, 2023
MRI Dixon Fat-Corrected Look-Locker T1 Mapping for Quantification of Liver Fibrosis and Inflammation-A Comparison
Jeremias Bendicht Klaus1, Ute Goerke, Markus Klarhöfer
1From the Department of Diagnostic, Interventional, and Pediatric Radiology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland (J.B.K., B.J., L.E., A.C., V.C.O., A.T.H.); Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland (J.B.K.); Dr. Kurz Röntgeninstitut AG, Thun, Switzerland (J.B.K.); Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Tucson, AZ (U.G., M.K.); Siemens Medical Solutions USA, New York, NY (M.B.K.); Department of Hepatology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland (A.B.); Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Lucerne Cantonal Hospital, University of Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland (L.E., J.R., A.T.H.); and Liver Elastography Center, Translational Imaging Center, Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Bern, Switzerland (A.C., V.C.O., A.T.H.).
A new Dixon water-only T1 mapping technique shows less dependency on liver steatosis for identifying liver fibrosis and inflammation compared to the standard shMOLLI sequence, potentially improving diagnostic accuracy.
Area of Science:
- Radiology
- Medical Imaging
- Hepatology
Background:
- Liver steatosis can confound T1 mapping accuracy for liver fibrosis and inflammation.
- Standard shortened Modified Look-Locker Inversion Recovery (shMOLLI) T1 mapping is affected by steatosis.
- Novel fat-corrected T1 mapping sequences are needed to overcome these limitations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate a novel Dixon water-only fat-corrected Look-Locker T1 mapping sequence.
- To compare its performance against shMOLLI in differentiating liver fibrosis and inflammation.
- To assess the impact of liver steatosis on both T1 mapping techniques.
Main Methods:
- Prospective 3T MRI of the liver in 24 healthy volunteers and 38 patients with liver fibrosis.
- Acquisition of liver T1 maps using Dixon water-only and shMOLLI sequences.
- Measurement of proton density fat fraction (PDFF) to quantify steatosis.
Main Results:
- Dixon water-only T1 was lower in participants with steatosis compared to shMOLLI (P < 0.001).
- Both sequences differentiated fibrosis and inflammation, but Dixon_W showed less steatosis dependency.
- Multivariate analysis including PDFF improved Dixon_W performance in fibrosis differentiation.
Conclusions:
- Dixon water-only fat-corrected Look-Locker T1 mapping accurately identifies liver fibrosis and inflammation.
- This novel sequence demonstrates reduced dependency on liver steatosis compared to shMOLLI.
- The improved accuracy may enhance the predictive value of T1 mapping for liver conditions.
